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The Top 150 Unreleased Foreign Language films of the Nineties

Why a poll? Is this just another excuse for a bunch of film festival circuit elitists and arthouse ivory tower cinesnobs to indulge in the oneupmanship of esoteric taste and soapbox on behalf of ever more obscure pet auteurs? Well, imagine it's thirty years ago and none of the films of Godard, Antonioni, Ray, and Ozu are in distribution. Abbas Kiarostami, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Wong Kar-wai are the filmmakers of our time as surely as those filmmakers were in theirs, but there are no contemporary equivalents for Truffaut, Fellini, Bergman, or Kurosawa —filmmakers whose dependable popularity made audiences receptive to more challenging, difficult work by less accessible filmmakers. The only arthouse filmmakers today who can be said to have a popular following are Pedro Almodóvar and Zhang Yimou, whose entire filmographies are in U.S. distribution. Like the earlier generation, their work combines pleasing entertainment values, colorful, sexy trappings, and recurring star/icons and repertory companies. But neither has the productivity of Truffaut or Bergman, whose fans could count on an annual fix. Instead we have the preponderance for "feel-good fare," as poll participant Todd McCarthy put it, where the emphasis is inevitably on formula ("Quick, let's find another Cinema Paradiso or Like Water for Chocolate") rather than auteur. This is but one facet of the decline of foreign film distribution on the one hand and filmgoing on the other.

You can use this chart as a hit list of foreign-language films to see at all costs. The 25 directors from eleven countries who made the 30 top-scoring films comprise veteran arthouse masters and their contemporary heirs. As such, the poll also maps the main hotspots of Nineties World Cinema: four countries —France, Hong Kong, Iran, and Taiwan —account for 20 of the tip-of-the-iceberg top 30. And if you check out the other 120 titles in the survey, you’ll find a lot more of the same, plus strong showings from China, Spain, Portugal, and Argentina. (That said, one sector of world cinema noticeably neglected in this poll is Africa.) Sadly, despite the efforts of this magazine, and the 83 critics, festival programmers, exhibitors, and curators who took part in this poll, if you don’t happen to live in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, or Boston, or in range of a good cinematheque, your chances of seeing any of the films in this poll is remote. Even if you do, if you missed them when they played at a festival or retrospective, or ran for a week at an indie arthouse, don’t hold your breath waiting for another pass.

There are a number of reasons why the films on this list aren’t available theatrically or even on homevideo in the U.S. (excepting Kiarostami’s And Life Goes On in the latter case), but the obvious and overriding one is that the distributors specializing in foreign-language films simply don’t believe they can make a profit on them. (In Cannes this year, one distributor stated that the best film in the festival was Kiarostami’s The Taste of Cherry —but he wouldn’t be buying it.) But blaming the distributor is too facile a verdict. Certainly some of the films on this list are “uncommercial,” which could mean anything from loss-making to insufficiently profitable. Still, just for a second, let’s do the unthinkable and credit distributors with knowing their business. After all, with the exception of France (or more accurately, Paris), foreign film distribution is no better in most European countries.

John Powers puts it well: “I’m driven crazy when critics try to personalize what’s obviously a systemic problem by aiming at fat targets like Miramax. Now, there’s no denying that Bob and Harvey have done their bit to befoul the distribution of ‘specialty’ films by driving up prices, filling the screens with Euro-rubbish (The Horseman on the Roof) and stiffing major filmmakers —an ape could have marketed Through the Olive Trees and Chungking Express with more intelligence and conviction. But having said this, it’s fatuous to suggest that Miramax is the real problem here; it’s only the symptom. After all, Harvey spent insane amounts trying to convince Americans they wanted to see movies by Kieslowski, and people still didn’t want to see Red, White, or Blue, let alone either of Véronique‘s lives.”

A start has to be made on reframing the whole question of foreign film’s predicament. Richard Peña points out in his response to the poll that “for now the problem lies in exhibition: there certainly aren’t enough cinemas for all the films that are out there, and the former art houses are now largely dedicated to showing U.S. so-called independent films and other English language fare.” Todd McCarthy offers a solution: “a more consistent policy by theater chains of devoting one or two screens per big multiplex to such [foreign film] fare on a permanent basis, to cultivate a taste and regular interest in it, to build an audience in places other than the biggest dozen or so markets.” Castro Theater exhibitor Anita Monga usefully commented: “My impression is that foreign producers are often dazzled by the possibility of big bucks and don’t want to go smaller scale.”

She’s right to pull focus to the other side of the transaction. The fact is that French production and sales mammoth CiBY 2000 would only sell Miramax Muriel’s Wedding if they also bought Kiarostami’s Through the Olive Trees —a film the Weinsteins otherwise would not have picked up. Such cramdown tactics do everyone a disservice. David Sterritt offers another perspective that we do well to bear in mind when we curse the distributors: “Most thoughtful film critics I know are constantly at war with their editors, who have little interest in coverage of movies not under their readers’ noses at the moment. This leads to the Catch-22 of movies going unreleased because there’s not enough public interest, whereas there’s no public interest because the films haven’t been released and therefore written about.”

That said, we can at least hope this poll will make some of the major specialized distributors reconsider —or, more likely, spur the small ones to step up to the plate. Case in point: filmmaker Rob Tregenza’s Baltimore-based Cinema Parallel (410 442-1752) distributes titles that would otherwise have been sure things in the Top 30 —Bela Tarr’s eight-hour Sátántangó, Godard’s Hélas pour moi and JLG/JLG, Rivette’s Haut/bas/fragile. We also salute the efforts of International Film Circuit (212 691-0770), Noon Films (212 254-4118), Rim Films (310 203-8182), Arab Film Distribution (206 547-4687), World Artists (213 933-7057), and Northern Arts (413 268-9301), which, along with Strand, New Yorker, Kino, Milestone, and Zeitgeist, have all saved many great foreign language films from oblivion.

Indeed, Emir Kusturica’s Underground had already scored 166 points when news came that New Yorker had acquired it. Similarly, Theo Angelopoulos’s Ulysses’ Gaze had a cume of 163 when its video distributor Fox Lorber confirmed that it now distributes a print through its theatrical division; and World Artist’s video-driven limited theatrical distribution also knocked Mexican director Arturo Ripstein’s three-hour 1993 film The Beginning and the End out of the running. Takeshi Kitano’s 1993 film Sonatine would doubtless have been another high scorer, but Miramax has been sitting on it for a year or more. It should be noted that “unavailability” itself is a flexible term, especially when it comes to Hong Kong titles. John Woo’s Bullet in the Head has been booked often enough around the country over the years, but its presumed distributor, L.A.-based Hong Kong specialist Rim Films, initially stated it no longer distributed Woo’s best film. A few days later it allowed that its distribution rights were due to expire in September…. We finally deemed Bullet eligible because its availability seems to fall below a reasonable threshold.

Other eligibility criteria: Tom Luddy rightly objected that the poll excluded many worthy English-language foreign films —and there were several votes for Peter Greenaway’s Baby of Mâcon —but I maintain that the last sector of world cinema that needs support is English-language specialist film; a few voted for videos, notably Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma series and Chris Marker’s The Last Bolshevik, which have been excluded because neither will ever be transferred to film, and videotape distribution (through organizations like Electronic Arts Intermix) is outside the framework of the poll; films that have only surfaced in late 1996-97 do not qualify on the grounds that they have not yet had enough time to be passed over by potential U.S. distributors; the 1990 cut-off date admittedly now seems arbitrary compared to a more generous ten-year span, particularly given that several participants tried to bend time to include the 1989 Hou Hsiao-hsien film City of Sadness, and the even earlier Kieslowski Decalog, which Kenneth Turan dubbed “easily the best unreleased film of our time,” while Terrence Rafferty spoke up in similar terms for Antonioni’s Identification of a Woman. (The Pacific Film Archive’s Edith Kramer counter-proposed a poll of foreign films that should never have been distributed. Anyone?)

Votes were cast for nearly 300 eligible films. Voters selected up to 20 titles, ideally ranked in order of preference. The final result was obtained through a points system by which a first choice received 20 points and a 20th choice received one point. Where voters declined or omitted to rank their choices, as many did, each title received an average score of 10.5. The film receiving the most first-choice places was Les Amants du Pont Neuf, which 6 voters made their number one pick; and the director with the most votes overall was, by a long chalk, Abbas Kiarostami. My thanks to all who took the time to take part. —Gavin Smith

 

1. NOUVELLE VAGUE
Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland/France 90 439 points
2. LES AMANTS DU PONT NEUF
Leos Carax, France 91 433
3. AND LIFE GOES ON
Abbas Kiarostami, Iran 92 425
4. COLD WATER
Olivier Assayas, France 94 386
5. DRIFTING CLOUDS
Aki Kaurismaki, Finland 96 385
6. BEYOND THE CLOUDS
Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy/France/Germany 95 341
7. CLOSE-UP
Abbas Kiarostami, Iran 90 337
8. THE PUPPET MASTER
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan 93 327
9. QUINCE TREE SUN/DREAM OF LIGHT
Victor Erice, Spain, 92 322
10. THE VALLEY OF ABRAHAM
Manuel de Oliveira, Portugal 93 306
11. GOODBYE SOUTH, GOODBYE
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japan/Taiwan 96 255
12. BULLET IN THE HEAD
John Woo, Hong Kong 90 253
13. THE SUSPENDED STEP OF THE STORK
Theo Angelopoulos, Greece 91 236
14. A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY
Edward Yang, Taiwan 91 226
15. ASHES OF TIME
Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong 94 204
16. A SUMMER’S TALE
Eric Rohmer, France 96 196
17. DAYS OF BEING WILD
Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong 91 187
18. VOICES OF THE MOON
Federico Fellini, Italy 90 184
19. ACTRESS
Stanley Kwan, Hong Kong 91 175
20. MADADAYO
Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 93 174
21. LE GARÇU
Maurice Pialat, France 95 171
22. FALLEN ANGELS
Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong 96 167
23. PETITS ARRANGEMENTS AVEC LES MORTS
Pascale Ferran, France 94 153
24. SMOKING/NO SMOKING
Alain Resnais, France 94 146
25. A MOMENT OF INNOCENCE
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran 96 145
SALAAM CINEMA
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran 95 145
27. D’EST
Chantal Akerman, France/Belgium/Portugal 93 141
28. LISBON STORY
Wim Wenders, Germany 94 138
29. WHISPERING PAGES
Alexandr Sokurov, Russia/Germany 135
30. THE TROUBLES WE’VE SEEN
Marcel Ophuls, France 94 133
31. BOILING POINT
Takeshi Kitano, Japan 90 129
32. GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan 95 126
ON THE BEAT
Ning Ying, China 95 126
34. THE WOMAN OF THE PORT
Arturo Ripstein, Mexico 91 125
35. JEANNE LA PUCELLE
Jacques Rivette, France 94 122
36. A NEW LIFE
Olivier Assayas, France 93 115
37. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL
AT THE END OF THE 1960s
Chantal Akerman, France 94 109
38. REBELS OF THE NEON GOD
Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan 93 105
39. FRESH BAIT
Bertrand Tavernier, France 94 104
I DON’T KISS
André Téchiné, France 92 104
41. AUTUMN MOON
Clara Law, Hong Kong/Japan 92 97
DARK SIDE OF THE HEART
Eliseo Subiela, Argentina 92 97
43. PRETTY VILLAGE, PRETTY FLAMES
Srdjan Dragojevic, Serbia 96 93
44. MAHJONG
Edward Yang, Taiwan 96 90
45. GOD’S COMEDY
Joao César Monteiro, Portugal 95 88
46. DEATH OF A NEOPOLITAN MATHEMATICIAN
Mario Martone, Italy 92 85
47. THE BRANCHES OF THE TREE
Satyajit Ray, India 90 83
NO, OR THE VAIN GLORY OF COMMAND
Manuel de Oliveira, Portugal 90 83
49. A CONFUCIAN CONFUSION
Edward Yang, Taiwan 95 80
50. QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
Arturo Ripstein, Mexico 94 79
51. SWEET EMMA, DEAR BOBE
Istvan Szabo, Hungary 92 76
52. HOMEWORK
Abbas Kiarostami, Iran 90 75
53. REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER
Jacques Audiard, France 94 73
54. THE MAN WHO LOST HIS SHADOW
Alain Tanner, Switzerland 91 72
55. MALINA
Werner Schroeter, Germany 91 70
56. AT FULL GALLOP
Krzysztof Zanussi, Poland 96 69
POSTMAN
He Jian-Jun, China 95 69
58. THE TREE, THE MAYOR, AND THE MEDIATHEQUE
Eric Rohmer, France 93 67
59. FATE
Fred Keleman, Germany 94 66
GORILLA BATHES AT NOON
Dusan Makejev, Germany 92 66
61. NOBODY WILL SPEAK OF US WHEN WE’RE DEAD
Agustin Diaz Yanes, Spain 95 62
THE OUTPOST
Peter Gothar, Hungary/Romania 94 62
63. LE JEUNE WERTHER
Jacques Doillon, France 93 59
US GO HOME
Claire Denis, France 95 59
65. J’ENTENDS PLUS LA GUITARRE
Philippe Garrel, France 90 57
66. GENESIS
Ermanno Olmi, Italy 94 56
LE PARFUM D’YVONNE
Patrice Leconte, France 94 56
68. PARIS S’EVEILLE
Olivier Assayas, France 91 56
69. PALMS
Artur Arkstakisian, Moldova/Russia 94 53
SCREAM OF STONE
Werner Herzog, Germany 92 53
71. LESSONS OF DARKNESS
Werner Herzog, Germany 92 50
SOPYONJE
Im Kwon-Taek, South Korea 93 50
73. SALE COMME UN ANGE
Catherine Breillat, France 92 48
UN DEUX TROIS SOLEIL
Bertrand Blier, France 93 48
75. THE SATAN
Viktor Aristov, USSR 90 47
76. IN THE HEAT OF THE SUN
Jiang Wen, China 94 46
THE HOUSE OF SMILES
Marco Ferreri, Italy 91 46
78. DAY OF THE BEAST
Alex de la Iglesia, Spain 95 44
79. PIGS
Wladyslaw Pasikowski, Poland 92 43
SCHTONK
Helmut Dietl, Germany 91 43
81. 71 FRAGMENTS OF A CHRONOLOGY OF CHANCE
Michael Haneke, Austria 94 42
TRAVOLTA AND ME
Patricia Mazuy, France 93 42
THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN FRACASS
Ettore Scola, Italy 90 42
84. WILD HORSES
Marcelo Piñeyro, Argentina 95 41
85. STONE
Alexandr Sokurov, Russia 92 40
86. AU PETIT MARGUERY
Laurent Benegui, France 95 39
CITIZEN LANGLOIS
Edgardo Cozarinsky, France 95 39
RED ROSE, WHITE ROSE
Stanley Kwan, Hong Kong 95 39
VACAS
Julio Medem, Spain 92 39
90. LIBERATORS TAKE LIBERTIES
Helke Sander, Germany 92 38
THE LONG SILENCE
Margarethe von Trotta, Italy 93 38
A PLACE IN THE WORLD
Adolfo Aristarain, Argentina 92 38
SPOTTED DOG RUNNING
ALONG THE SEASHORE
Karen Gevorkian, USSR 90 38
94. STEP ACROSS THE BORDER
Nicolas Humbert & Werner Penzel,
Switzerland/Germany 90 37
95. BETRAYAL
Rada Mihaileanu, France 94 36
THE DEATHMAKER
Romnald Karmakar, Germany 95 36
FAMINE ’33
Oles Yanchuk, Ukraine 92 36
I WANTED TO SEE ANGELS
Sergei Bodrov, Russia 93 36
99. THE ACTOR
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran 93 35 100. ANTIGONE
Straub/Huillet, Germany 92 34
LA GUERRE SANS NOM
Bertrand Tavernier, France 92 34
IP5: THE ISLAND OF PACHYDERMS
Jean Jacques Beinix, France 92 34
LIFE ACCORDING TO AGFA
Assi Dayan, Israel 92 34
104. GONIN
Takeshi Ishii, Japan 95 33
105. KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER
Liv Ullman, Norway 95 32
MIDDLE OF THE MOMENT
Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel,
Switzerland 95 32
107. DEADLY MARIA
Tom Tykwer, Germany 95 31
JOHNNY 100 PESOS
Gustavo Graef Marino, Chile 93 31
MANNEKEN PIS
Frank Van Passel, Belgium 94 31
110. LE FILS PREFERE
Nicole Garcia, France 94 30
DOWN THE DRAIN
Shinobu Yaguchi, Japan 93 30
QUIET DAYS IN AUGUST
Pantelis Voulgaris, Greece 91 30
113. AND ALL THINGS FAIR
Bo Widerberg, Sweden 95 29
L’ANGE NOIR
Jean-Claude Brisseau, France 94 29
DIEU SAIT QUOI
Jean-Daniel Pollet, France 93 29
116. CARDIOGRAM
Darezhan Omirbaev, Kazakhstan 95 28
EARTH/TIERRA Julio Medem, Spain 96 28
118. AMELIA LOPES O’NEILL
Valeria Sarmiento, Chile/Spain/France 90 27
NARGESS
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Iran 92 27
THE RED SQUIRREL
Julio Medem, Spain 94 27
SIXTEEN OH SIXTY
Vinicius Mainardi, Brazil 95 27
122. AN INDEPENDENT LIFE
Vitali Kanevski, Russia/France 92 26
THE RIDE
Jan Sverak, Czech Republic 94 26
LE ZEBRA
Jean Poiret, France 92 26
125. ANGEL OF FIRE
Dana Rotberg, Mexico 91 25
BLUSH
Li Shaohong, China 94 25
TO HEAR THE BIRDS SINGING
Jorge Sanjinandeacutes, Bolivia 95 25
128. LA CABALE DES OURSINS
Luc Moullet, France 91 24
MADAGASCAR Fernando Perez, Cuba 94 24
THE SECOND TIME
Mimmo Calopresti, Italy 95 24
131. LOTHRINGEN
Straub/Huillet, Germany 94 23
THE NORTHERNERS
Alex Van Warmerdam, Netherlands 93 23
THE SECRET OF THE OLD WOODS
Ermano Olmi, Italy 93 23
THE SON OF GASCOGNE
Pascal Aubier, France 95 23
135. THE DAYS
Wang Xiaoshuai, China 93 21
DIEN BIEN PHU
Pierre Schoendorfer, France 91 21
MARKS
Yoichi Sai, Japan 96 21
NOBODY LOVES ME
Marion Vernoux, France 94 21
ONCE UPON A TIME CINEMA
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran 91 21
SHADOW OF A DOUBT
Aline Issermann, France 93 21
TRAVELLERS
Bahram Beizai, Iran 92 21
142. THE BLUE VEILED
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Iran 95 20
FADO, MAJOR AND MINOR
Raul Ruiz, France 95 20
GOLDEN BALLS Bigas Luna, Spain 93 20
KING OF MASKS
Wu Tianming, Hong Kong/China 96 20
LANDSCAPE OF MEMORY
José Aranjo, Brazil 96 20
ROSALYNE AND THE LIONS Jean-Jaques Beineix, France 90 20
SINGAPORE SLING
Nikos Nikolaidis, Greece 90 20
THE SPOUSE
Mehdi Fakhimzadeh, Iran 94 20
TANGO
Patrice Leconte, France 93 20
TROP DE BONHEUR
Cedric Kahn, France 94 20

under 20 points in alphabetical order:

A LA VIE, A LA MORT
Robert Guediguian, France 95
ACCION MUTANTE
Alex de la Iglesia, Spain 93
ACCUMULATOR 1
Jan Sverak, Czech Republic 94
ALEX
Teresa Villaverde, Portugal 90
AND THE MOON DANCES
Garin Nugroho 95
ANIMAL LOVE
Ulrich Seidl, Austria 95
ANNA KARAMAZOVA
Rustam Khamdamov, USSR 91
L’ANNEE JULIETTE
Philippe Le Guay, France 95
L’ANNONCÉ FAITE À MARIE
Alain Cuny, France 92
ANTONIO’S GIRLFRIEND
Manuel Poirier, France 92
APPLE TREES/APFELBAUME
Helma Sanders-Brahms, Germany 92
AUX PETITS BONHEURS
Michel Deville, France 93
AVETIK
Don Askarian, Armenia/Germany 92
THE BILINGUAL LOVER
Vincente Aranda, Spain 93
BLUE NOTE
Andrzej Zulawski, France/Poland/Germany 91
BOATMAN
Gianfranco Rosi, India 94
CRADLE SONG/CANCIONE DE CUNA
Jos Luis Garci, Spain 94
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Raymond Depardon, France 95
CELLULOIDE
Carlo Lizzani, Italy 96
CHILD MURDERS
Ildiko Szabo, Hungary 93
LE CONFESSIONEL
Robert Le Page, Canada 95
THE CONJUGAL BED
Mircea Daneliuc, Romania 93
THE CORRIDOR
Sarunas Bartas, Lithuania 95
A DANCE IN THE NIGHT
Aleko Tsabadze, Georgia 92
DARK AT NOON
Raul Ruiz, Portugal 91
DARKNESS IN TALLINN
Ilkka Jarvilaturi,
Finland/USA/Sweden/Estonia 93
DARTAGNAN’S DAUGHTER
Bertrand Tavernier, France 94
THE DELEGATION
Alexander Galin, Italy 96
DON’T FORGET YOU’RE GOING TO DIE
Xavier Beauvois, France 95
DON’T DIE WITHOUT TELLING ME
WHERE YOU’RE GOING
Eliseo Subiela, Argentina 94
DR. M
Claude Chabrol, France 90
DRUMROLL
Sergei Ovcharov, Russia 93
DUST OF ANGELS
Hsu Hsia Ming, Taiwan 94
DUST OF LIFE
Rachid Bouchareb, France-Algeria 94
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Jan Sverak, Czechoslovakia 92
ELEPHANT SONG
Go Riju, Japan 94
THE ENCHANTMENT
Shunichi Nagasaki, Japan 90
LES EQUILIBRISTES
Nico Papatakis, France 91
THE EYE OF VICHY
Claude Chabrol, France 94
FLY HIGH, RUN FAR
Im Kwon-taek, South Korea 91
FORGET ME
Noemie Lvosky, France 95
FOURBI
Alain Tanner, Switzerland 96
THE GARDEN
Martin Sulik, Slovak Republic 95
THE GOLDEN GATE
Jurgen Reble, Germany 92
GUILT AND REMEMBRANCE
Egon Humer, Austria 92
HAMOON
Pariush Mehrjni, Iran 90
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TURKE
Doris Dorrie, Germany 91
HARAMUYA
Drissa Touré, Burkino Faso/France 95
HEY YOU WILD GEESE
Lydia Bobrova, Russia 91
HOMEWORK
Jaime Hermosillo, Mexico 90
I HIRED A CONTRACT KILLER
Aki Kaurismaki, Finland 90
THE INHERITANCE Vera Chytilova, Czechoslovakia 93
THE DIARY OF LADY M. Alain Tanner, Switzerland/Belgium 93
THE JOURNEY aka THE VOYAGE Fernando Solanas, Argentina 91
JUMP INTO THE VOID
Daniel Calparsoro, Spain 95
KIKUCHI
Kenchi Iwamoto, Japan 90
LABYRINTH
Jaromil Jives, Germany 92
LANGER GANG aka PASSAGES
Yilmaz Arslan, Germany 92
THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT
Philippe Collin, France 92
LATINO BAR
Paul Leduc, Mexico 1991
LEA
Ivan Fila, Germany 96
LIBERA ME
Alain Cavalier, France 93
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE HOLLYWOOD KID
Jung Ji-Young, South Korea 94
A LIGHT SENSITIVE STORY
Pal Erdoss, Hungary 93
LOVE IN THE TIME OF HYSTERIA Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico 92
LOVE Valeri Todorovsky, USSR 92
LA MADRE MUERTA/THE DEAD MOTHER
Juanma Bajo Ulloa, Spain 93
THE MAN WHO READS MUSIC
FROM THE PLATES
Jan Jakub Kolski, Poland/France 95
MAN OF THE STORY
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India 96
MARIE’S SONG: I WAS I KNOW NOT WHERE
Niko Brucher 94
MEN OF THE PORT
Alain Tanner, Switzerland 95
METAL and MELANCOLIA
Heddy Honigmann, Netherlands 94
THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE
Kaizo Hayashi, Japan 94
MY MOTHER’S COURAGE
Michael Verhoeven, Germany 96
NIGHT OF THE FILMMAKERS
Edgar Reitz, Germany 95
NO LIFE KING
Jun Ichikawa, Japan 90
NUIT D’ÉTÉ EN VILLE
Michel Deville, France 90
ONCE MORE
Paul Vecchiali, France 90
ONO
Serghei Ovtcharov, USSR 90
PARI
Daryush Mehrjui, Iran 95
PARPAILLON
Luc Moullet, France 92
THE PATRIOTS
Eric Rochant, France 94
PEACEFUL AIR OF THE WEST
Silvio Soldini, Italy 90
PUSHER
Nikolas Winding Refin, Denmark 96
THE ROAD TO EDEN
Robert Peso, Austria 95
RED DAWN/ROJO AMANACER
Jorge Fons, Mexico 90
SARA
Dariush Mehrjui, Iran 93
SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY
SEVILLANAS
Carlos Saura, Spain 92
THE SEXUAL LIFE OF THE BELGIANS
Jan Bucquoy, Belgium 93
SHADOW ON THE SNOW
Attila Janisch, Hungary 91
THE SILENCE OF NETO
Luis Argueta, Guatemala 94
SIX DAYS, SIX NIGHTS
Diane Kurys, France 94
THE SMILE
Claude Miller, France 95
THE SNAIL’S STRATEGY
Sergio Cabrera, Colombia 94
SONS
Zhang Yuan, China 95
THE SQUARE CIRCLE
Amol Palekar, India 96
STELLA POLARIS
Knut Erik Jensen, Norway 93
STING OF DEATH
Kohei Oguri, Japan 90
A SUMMER IN LA GOULETTE
Ferid Boughedir, Tunisia/France/Belgium 96
THE TIT AND THE MOON
Bigas Luna, Spain
TO THE STARRY ISLE
Park Kwang-Su, South Korea 94
TO YOU, FROM ME
Jang Sun-woo, South Korea 94
TRAUM, WAS SONST, EIN?,
Hans Jurgen Syberberg, Germany 94
TSAHAL
Claude Lanzmann, Israel 94
TWILIGHT
Gyorgy Fehér, Hungary 90
VASKA EASOFF
Péter Gothar, Hungary 96
VIRGINA
Srdjun Karovic, Yugoslavia 91
VIVA CASTRO!
Boris Frumin, Russia 93
WHEN THE STARS MEET THE SEA
Raymond Rajaonarivelo, France/Madagascar 96
WILD TARGET
Pierre Salvatore, France 93
WIZARD OF DARKNESS
Shinako Sato, Japan 95
THE WOMEN ON THE ROOF
Carl-Gustav Nykvist, Sweden 90
WORK ON THE GRASS
Tetsuo Shinoharu, Japan 94
THE WORLD OF JAQUES DEMY
Agnes Varda, France 95
THE WRITTEN FACE
Daniel Schmid, Japan/Switzerland 95
YOUCEF, OR THE LEGEND
OF THE SEVENTH SLEEPER
Mohamed Chouikh, Algeria 93

PARTICIPANTS: Andrea Alsberg, UCLA Film Archive; John Anderson, Newsday; David Ansen, Newsweek; Ed Arentz, Cinema Village; Paul Arthur; Mike Atkinson, SPIN; Pat Aufderheidfe; Dennis Bartok, Los Angeles Cinematheque; Sheila Benson, Microsoft Cinemania; David Bordwell, University of Wisconsin; Peter Broderick; Georgia Brown; Fred Camper, Chicago Reader; Fabiano Canosa, Anthology Film Archives; Jay Carr, Boston Globe; Chris Chang, Microsoft Cinema; Richard Corliss, Time; Mary Corliss, Museum of Modern Art; Gary Crowdus, Cineaste; Manohla Dargis, LA Weekly; Roger Ebert; David Ehrenstein; Jim Emerson, Microsoft Cinemania; Kathy Geritz, Pacific Film Archive; John Gianvito, Harvard Film Archive; Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Film Festival; Robert Haller, Anthology Film Archives; Piers Handling, Toronto Film Festival; John Hartl, Seattle Times; Molly Haskell; J. Hoberman, Village Voice; Bill Horrigan, The Wexner Center; Robert Horton; Jytte Jensen, Museum of Modern Art; Kent Jones; Larry Kardish, Museum of Modern Art; Dave Kehr, Daily News; Ed Kelleher, Film Journal; Wendy Keys, New York Film Festival; Stuart Klawans, The Nation; Edith Kramer, Pacific Film Archive; Kevin Lally, Film Journal; Irina Lembacher, San Francisco Cinematheque; Emanuel Levy, Variety; Phillip Lopate; Tom Luddy, Zoetrope; Darryl Macdonald, Seattle International Film Festival; Marie-Pierre Macia, San Francisco Film Festival; Adrienne Mancia, Museum of Modern Art; Janet Maslin, New York Times; Todd McCarthy, Variety; Mark McElhatten; Ralph McKay, Rotterdam Film Festival; Myron Meisel, Film Journal; Anita Monga, Castro Theater; Richard Pena, New York Film Festival; John Powers, Vogue; Leonard Quart, Cineaste; Terrence Rafferty, The New Yorker; Peter Rainer, LA New Times; Berenice Reynaud, Cahiers du cinema; Carrie Rickey; Rachel Rosen, San Francisco Film Festival; Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader; Andrew Sarris, New York Observer; Peter Scarlett, San Francisco Film Festival; Barbara Scharres, Chicago Film Center; David Schwartz, American Museum of the Moving Image; Joel Shepard, San Francisco Cinematheque; Alissa Simon, Chicago Film Center; Robert Sklar, New York University Cinema Studies; Gavin Smith, Film Comment; Elliott Stein, Village Voice; Chuck Stephens, San Francisco Bay Guardian; David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor; Amy Taubin, Village Voice; Laura Thielan, Aspen Film Festival; Kenneth Turan, LA Times; Amos Vogel, NYU; Armond White, New York Press; Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune; Michael Wilson, Positif; Ken Wlashin, American Film Institute; Matthew Yokobosky, Whitney Museum of American Art